After the water eventually retreated, and the local fire department pumped out the rest, Arnold had another worry: mold. A husband and wife who had done painting for the Arnolds showed up and offered to wash the home’s lower level with bleach. “Where would I have been without that,” Arnold wondered this summer, “because they knew about the mold, and they Cloroxed the whole basement. If there’s another storm, I don’t know if they’re up to do that again.”

Arnold has lived in her house near the end of Whitfield Street in Guilford since 1962. She and her family evacuated to a local community center for six hours during the worst of Sandy’s tempest. Evacuations have become commonplace in her neighborhood, she said. A year prior, during Hurricane Irene, the family also packed their bags and spent the night at the center.

After the Sandy cleanup, Arnold hired a contractor to install a new furnace that hangs from the ceiling, about 5 feet above the floor.

“That’s as high as they could make it,” she said. “If it needs to be higher than that, Guilford’s in trouble. But the way the world is today, who’s to say, you know, what could happen?”

For the past several decades, Arnold has watched the tide creep deeper into the marshes that ripple outside her living-room window. Guilford’s coastal neighborhoods, like most of the shoreline, saw the future arrive with Hurricane Irene in 2011.

In a century, climate change and a rising sea level on Connecticut’s coast have brought more frequent and devastating flooding during storms.

The flooding destroys property, something people hear about immediately. But it also harms people’s health.

After flooding, mold quickly multiplies into fuzzy blobs on walls and furniture. When people try to clean up, they breathe in airborne microbes that can trigger breathing problems, skin rashes and infections, mucous membrane illnesses, and problems in internal organs, according to fungal scientist Eckardt Johanning and his colleagues, writing in an article in Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine.

Terry Brennan/EPA Photo.

After floods, mold quickly multiplies, and exposure to it can make you sick.

Health researchers say that residents should view floods as hazardous to their health and doctors need to beef up their training to recognize flood-related illnesses.

Mold itself can make people sick, but mold also signals the presence of other bacteria and disease, said Paula Schenck, director of the Center for Indoor Environments and Health at UConn Health. She said doctors “can advise their patients to have the appropriate protective gear on hand before the flood, and then avoid exposures that would cause illness, so I’m sort of on a disease-prevention soapbox here.”

“If you live in an environment that is likely to see severe wet weather, it’s good for your doctor to consider if you might have health concerns from exposures after a storm, or from being in a chronically wet environment, when you go in for your yearly exam,” Schenck said.

This little-discussed public health threat—exposure to mold—is rising slowly into the public consciousness. Nuisance flooding has increased on the United States coasts, and it will increase dramatically after 2050, or about the time that today’s babies will be young adults.

People who live near water now live more and more in water.

Adam Whelchel, director of science for the Connecticut Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, has worked on coastal resilience planning with dozens of municipalities. “There’s a whole lot of emotional stress that goes along with living along the coast,” he said.

Around New England, most coastal areas have been inundated several inches over the past century. Bridgeport’s sea level has risen nearly 1 foot, and New London’s slightly less, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) calculations. The yearly increase is almost 3 millimeters.

The red line in NOAA’s map indicates land currently subject to flooding at high tide during rain or a storm.

High-tide flooding along the nation’s coastline has increased 300 percent to 900 percent in the last half-century. NOAA’s map of projected high-tide flooding can be zoomed to street-level detail for any town in Connecticut. A perusal of the state shows that inundation by floods will cover large swaths of Guilford south of I-95, and large areas of Madison, Bridgeport, Middletown, Old Saybrook, Haddam, Hartford and Stamford in the future.

Buildings in the floodwaters’ path will be prone to mold and all that mold signifies.

All molds are part of the kingdom of fungi. Scientists haven’t yet identified most fungi that exist—90 percent or so, said De-Wei Li, a research mycologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station’s Valley Laboratory in Windsor. Scientists who study fungi spend much of their time simply identifying species.

The hundreds of molds scientists have identified in this part of the world can trigger allergies like asthma and skin reactions, and some of them contain mycotoxins or volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in their spores. Mycotoxins and VOCs can cause serious diseases or reactions when ingested, when they come in contact with skin, or when someone breathes them in. The microscopic spores penetrate deep into the lungs.

Carl Jordan Castro Photo.

The furnace in Nancy Arnold’s home is suspended from the basement joists to prevent potential flood damage.

A month after Sandy hit in the Northeast, scientists collected samples of mold from houses in Brielle and Manasquan, New Jersey. They found 36 types of mold, including six that killed flies in the lab. Molds found included Aspergillus niger, which the CDC reports can cause lung infections and allergic reactions; Aspergilloma (fungus ball); and the most common found in damp or water-damaged structures, Penicillium chrysogenum.

The presence of mold also indicates a whole soup of biological materials, including bacteria. If someone sees mold growing inside, they are witnessing a risk to respiratory health, Schenck said.

She added that flood waters can be dangerously contaminated. Certain medical conditions make one vulnerable to airborne mold.

“Many materials—wallboard, fabrics themselves (clothes, curtains) and those that trap dust (carpet) are a grand meal for mold,” Schenck has written. “Even some well-constructed buildings that haven’t had moisture concerns in the past become wet from wind-driven rain and flood waters in severe storms.” Schenck wants people to know that any time they see mold, they should consider it an indicator that “moisture is available for biological growth.” The wetter it is, the greater the chances of severe respiratory illnesses.

An increase in floods will cause wood and drywall and other building materials to become saturated more often, causing an increase in people’s exposure to airborne mold spores, since that is how they reproduce. This means that people whose immune systems have been weakened by disease are more vulnerable to health effects from mold.

The most urgent advice about a flooded living space is to get out until the standing water has subsided. “Once it’s flooded, don’t go wading unprotected in that environment,” Schenck said.

]]>http://c-hit.org/2018/07/24/mold-concerns-rise-with-sea-level/feed/2As Lead In Children Persists, State Lawmakers Look To Tackle Riskshttp://c-hit.org/2018/03/15/as-lead-in-children-persists-state-lawmakers-look-to-tackle-risks/
http://c-hit.org/2018/03/15/as-lead-in-children-persists-state-lawmakers-look-to-tackle-risks/#commentsThu, 15 Mar 2018 13:02:17 +0000http://c-hit.org/?p=226348With Connecticut children testing positive for lead at consistently high numbers, and millions of dollars thrown at the problem with tepid results, lawmakers may finally be stepping up to seek an effective solution.

The Banking Committee is considering a bill that would create a task force to study better ways to finance the removal of the toxin from thousands of homes around the state. The task force would also investigate how to enforce abatement measures, including rental property inspections, and look into increasing workforce training in the specialized process needed to remove lead.

State Department of Public Health (DPH) numbers from 2015, the latest available, show more than 72,000 children under the age of 6 testing positive for some level of lead in their blood. More than 900 children were at levels two to four times the baseline at which a child is considered poisoned. Significant gaps in screening across the state mean those numbers could be even higher. The health disparities for lead poisoning among races and between Hispanic and non-Hispanic ethnicities remain, according to DPH.

Banking committee co-chairman and the bill’s author, Rep. Matthew L. Lesser, D-Middletown, said in an email, “My hope is that we can bring stakeholders together to identify financing models to help landlords and homeowners upgrade our existing housing units and tackle this health crisis systematically.”

Dr. Mark A. Mitchell, an environmental health physician and founder of the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice, said in public hearing testimony on the bill that exposure to lead “causes damage to a child’s brain and nervous system, slowing growth and development.

In just the past five years, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has funneled nearly $40 million to Connecticut for lead abatement and related activities. That includes $12.6 million this year. Since 2003, the nonprofit Connecticut Children’s Healthy Homes Program, which is based at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford and focuses on 15 towns, has received more than $31 million in federal money to remediate more than 2,200 homes.

In addition to state agencies and Healthy Homes, money goes directly to municipalities. New Haven, for example, received more than $3 million in a multiyear grant in 2015. Bridgeport, the state’s largest city, however, has received nothing from Washington since its $2.5 million allocation ran out in October 2016, said the lead program’s director, Audrey Gaines, although it received $2.5 million in HUD’s latest round of funding and will restart lead abatement work May 1.

Lead-based paint was not outlawed until 1978. The National Center for Healthy Housing shows 61 percent of Connecticut housing, or tens of thousands of homes and housing units, was built before then.

Mitchell told the banking committee that in just the past few years, scientists have come to understand that much lower levels of lead than previously thought are harmful to children.

Helen Li, a fellow at Connecticut Legal Services in New Haven, said Connecticut is behind other states, and the science, in its legal trigger for official action. Health officials in Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, for example, must investigate if a child’s blood test shows 5 micrograms per deciliter of lead or more. This corresponds with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s definition of lead poisoning.

Li noted that Connecticut law doesn’t require an investigation unless a blood test shows 20 micrograms of lead or more, or if two separate tests taken at least three months apart show 15 to 20 micrograms of the toxin.

Lead most frequently endangers young children, whose exposure risk coincides with their peak period of brain development.

Babies and toddlers are unstoppable movers and explorers. Through frequent hand-to-mouth activity, they may ingest lead through peeling lead paint chips, which taste sweet, and lead dust, created as doors and windows in older housing open and close over the years, grinding down the paint.

Its immediate impact can be subtle or even imperceptible, since the symptoms of lead poisoning are not uncommon: loss of appetite, fatigue, abdominal pain, constipation or diarrhea, irritability.

]]>http://c-hit.org/2018/03/15/as-lead-in-children-persists-state-lawmakers-look-to-tackle-risks/feed/3As Lyme Disease Spreads, Danbury Lab Focuses On Diagnostic Toolshttp://c-hit.org/2018/02/22/as-lyme-disease-spreads-danbury-lab-focuses-on-diagnostic-tools/
http://c-hit.org/2018/02/22/as-lyme-disease-spreads-danbury-lab-focuses-on-diagnostic-tools/#commentsThu, 22 Feb 2018 14:29:54 +0000http://c-hit.org?p=216724For nearly nine years, scientists inside the boxy brick Western Connecticut Health Network Research Center have been working to develop a more accurate test to diagnose the scourge of the Connecticut woods: Lyme disease.

Lyme disease is carried by the tiny blacklegged tick, commonly known as a deer tick. When a blacklegged tick infected with Lyme bites a human, it can transmit a tiny microscopic organism, called a spirochete, that moves around the human body, evading easy detection.

Derek Torrellas Photo.

Dr. Paul Fiedler, chair of pathology and laboratory medicine at WCHN, looks through a microscope as a spirochete is displayed on a monitor.

Researchers in Danbury have been trying to detect that spirochete, similar to those that cause syphilis and other diseases, in people’s blood. Pathology research scientist Donna Guralski powered up her microscope and computer recently to show the culprit: a fluorescent green corkscrew-shaped organism that twisted around the screen, just as it would burrow through a person’s blood vessel walls and into tissue.

But scientists have learned that they can’t view the spirochete in fresh blood samples. “We gave up on this method,” Guralski said.

Growing Problem

About 300,000 Lyme cases have been reported nationally from 2006-2016, and an estimated 3,000 cases are reported in Connecticut yearly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2015 9.5 percent of all confirmed Lyme cases were reported in 14 states including Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. But the CDC says that Lyme disease is 10 times as common as the number of cases confirmed each year.

But the CDC says that Lyme disease is 10 times as common as the number of cases confirmed each year.

Part of the reason for the explosion in Lyme cases is the changing climate. Warmer falls and earlier springs have helped spread Lyme disease, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined four years ago.

Tick eggs lie dormant through cold weather, and adult ticks are very clever at surviving under buried leaves, in basements and sheds. “People say, ‘We’ve had a really bad winter; there was a lot of snow’,” said Kirby Stafford III, state entomologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. “I say the ticks are doing just fine. Snow is an insulator.” One of his researchers discovered that winters with more snow and rain lead to summers with more ticks, he said.

And Lyme ticks aren’t the only ones thriving these days. The mostly southern lone star tick showed up in Connecticut last year on a deer found dead near Norwalk.

Two of the most crucial carriers of the disease are white-footed mice and chipmunks. Those animals thrive in forested suburban landscapes, and they’re responsible for infecting the nymph (baby) ticks every spring, starting the whole cycle again.

Difficult Diagnosis

Lyme disease isn’t easily diagnosed. If a person isn’t producing antibodies just as blood is drawn and analyzed, the test result is often negative. Only about one in 10 cases can be confirmed using diagnostic tests, leaving the rest to guesswork by doctors, according to a 2012 analysis of the failed Lyme vaccine trials of the 1990s by Robert A. Aronowitz in the Milbank Quarterly. “Only a small fraction of initially suspected cases were confirmed as definite Lyme disease (in the 10 percent to 20 percent range), suggesting widespread overdiagnosis (or alternately, that the diagnostic criteria were too narrow),” according to Aronowitz.

Suffering with undiagnosed Lyme disease “changed my life,” said Kimberly Ruggiero of Madison, who finally received antibiotics after three years of joint pain, excruciating headaches and confusion, before a lab test confirmed she had Lyme disease.

The disease, named after the town of Lyme in Connecticut, is the most common vector-borne disease in America. It was discovered in the late 1970s when 51 people, mostly children who lived in or near Lyme, all suffered similar arthritis-like symptoms. Willy Burgdorfer, a medical entomologist, verified the connection to the blacklegged tick and identified the spirochete in 1982.

But the signs and symptoms of Lyme disease are often nonspecific, appear in stages and can be linked to other conditions, making it difficult to diagnose, according to the Mayo Clinic. Early signs include a rash in the form of a bull’s-eye and flu-like symptoms, such as fever, chills and body aches.

No test was needed when Deborah Livingston of Bolton took her son, Shep, to a pediatrician as soon as he developed a circular dark-pink rash under his arm. “When the pediatrician saw the rash, she knew right away,” Livingston said.

Annie Atwood of New Haven said that in 2008 her then 4-year-old son, Roddy, was complaining of ankle pain, and within a few weeks lay on his side, moaning. “The next morning, he couldn’t even walk,” Atwood said. A test confirmed Lyme disease and he was cured after several weeks of antibiotics.

Antibiotics, such as doxycycline, are often prescribed, but there is no official consensus on how long treatment should last.

Right now, the diagnostic and treatment criteria, last updated in 2006, are under review by the Infectious Diseases Society, the American Academy of Neurology, the American College of Rheumatology, and other collaborators.

Progress at Danbury Lab

At the Danbury lab, researchers have tested various methods in search of the best diagnostic tool.

They have tried going to the molecular level. Scientists amplified Lyme patients’ DNA from their blood using a test known as PCR, or polymerase chain reaction. Srirupa Das, a pathology research associate, demonstrated the process on a screen showing 48 patients’ test results using this ultra-sensitive technology. Each patient’s DNA sample is divided into 770 tiny square segments. If even one out of 770 squares show red, Lyme disease is present. In some patients, most of the 770 squares turned red; in others, just a few (those people were sick, too, just not as sick). “It’s very hard to detect because infection levels in humans are less,” Das said. “They hide in the joints.”

Derek Torrellas Photo.

Blood and urine are stored for testing.

The PCR test is so sensitive that it would be too expensive to use widely, said Dr. Paul Fiedler, chairman of the lab’s pathology research group. He said a simpler test known as QPCR (quantitative PCR) also works at the molecular level, looks for the Lyme spirochete’s genes, and divides each patient sample into 96 segments. Das used graphs showing rising colored lines that revealed Lyme, and other graphs showing no rising lines, or no disease. He said someday soon this test might become a standard to diagnose the rising number of Lyme cases.

The lab hopes to develop one test that detects three of the diseases carried by the blacklegged tick: Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and babesiosis. The tick also carries Powassan virus, another serious illness.

The scientists’ challenge is that the Lyme spirochete does not remain in the blood, as other tick-borne organisms do. Lyme spirochetes hide from detection. They can curl up into a ring and break up into blobs to survive. They don’t stay in red or white blood cells, as some other tick-borne bacteria do. They move around, pushing through blood cells and into tissue, scientists explained.

“The big debate is how long do they live?” Fiedler said. “And, why can’t they be seen easily?” He said the current diagnostic tests are not reliable because “if a patient is treated and improves, we won’t see the antibody.”

A prime supplier of blood samples for study is the Western Connecticut Health Network’s Lyme disease biobank. Joann Petrini, director of the bank, said the bank begins signing up patients for study as early as March. The biobank is currently looking for new study participants. To participate, subjects must be at least 5 years old and have been diagnosed by a doctor as having Lyme disease. Participants donate both blood and urine for research studies. Some of the samples are studied right away, and others are labeled and frozen.

“Some people who come in are very sick,” Petrini said. “We’re very fortunate that people are willing to come and do this.”

]]>http://c-hit.org/2018/02/22/as-lyme-disease-spreads-danbury-lab-focuses-on-diagnostic-tools/feed/1Report: 27 Facilities Using Hazardous Chemicals Pose Risk To Thousands Of Low-Income Neighborshttp://c-hit.org/2017/12/13/report-27-facilities-using-hazardous-chemicals-pose-risk-to-thousands-of-low-income-neighbors/
http://c-hit.org/2017/12/13/report-27-facilities-using-hazardous-chemicals-pose-risk-to-thousands-of-low-income-neighbors/#respondThu, 14 Dec 2017 03:00:28 +0000http://c-hit.org?p=193150There are 27 facilities in Connecticut that use such large quantities of hazardous chemicals that they are required to submit disaster response plans to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

About 170,000 people—roughly 5 percent of the state’s population—live within a mile of these facilities, risking exposure to a leak, explosion or adverse health effects.

Low-income people and children of color under the age of 12 are more likely than their white counterparts to live in these “fenceline” communities, according to a report by the Center for Effective Government.

Derek Torrellas Photo.

On Welton Street, New Haven, residents live near the Chlor-Alkali plant.

In its report “Living in the Shadow of Danger: Poverty, Race and Unequal Chemical Facility Hazards,” the center examined more than 12,500 facilities in 50 states, grading states based on the “disparities faced” by people living adjacent to or near these facilities. The center reported that children of color under age 12 living in the state were 2.2 times more likely than white children to live within a mile of one of these facilities. In many instances, residents are unaware of the dangers just blocks from their homes, the report said.

Connecticut, and 25 other states, earned a “D” grade for its inequities. But, like in many states, there’s little that can be done because many of the facilities were built under old zoning laws and are protected.

“I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and I don’t see things changing. It’s frustrating,” said Edith Pestana, administrator of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s (DEEP) Environmental Justice Program, which was formed to assist neighborhoods unfairly burdened by environmental hazards.

“I have to say I was traumatized that we got a ‘D,’ but … people are living where they were always living, and it hasn’t improved.”

“A lot of it has to do with terrible zoning. A lot of facilities are grandfathered in,” Pestana said. “Until cities start looking at public health again, when they are rewriting their planning and zoning rules, things are not going to change.”

But the dangers are real, especially for people of color, experts and advocates said. Between 2010 and 2014, incidents occurred more frequently at facilities in neighborhoods predominantly populated by people of color—one incident per six facilities compared with one per 11 in predominantly white neighborhoods.

In 2015 the EPA estimated that 150 “catastrophic” accidents occur nationwide at regulated facilities each year.

“These incidents keep happening and happening. It feels like we get a new report once or twice a week,” said Anna Fendley of United Steelworkers, which represents 30,000 workers in chemical facilities across the country, including Connecticut.

The most recent incident in Connecticut took place in December 2016, when an explosion occurred inside a warehouse at New Haven Chlor-Alkali bleach manufacturing plant. The incident did not cause any injuries, but it was a wakeup call to some nearby residents.

“You have families that live on this street,” said 28-year-old John Smith, pointing to his son arriving home from school. He lives on Welton Street across from railroad tracks that bring 90-ton railcars of chlorine to and from the plant. “I like this street, it’s quiet except for the trains, but if I could I wouldn’t live near here.”

Federal, State And Local Oversight

An amendment to the Clean Air Act of 1990 mandated that facilities holding large quantities of certain potentially toxic chemicals submit a “risk management plan” to the EPA detailing the procedures to be followed if an explosion sends those chemicals airborne.

Peter Hvizdak - New Haven Register Photo.

The Chlor-Alkali facility was damaged following an explosion last December.

The facilities employ more than 7,000 workers and are scattered statewide. In addition to New Haven, facilities are in Bridgeport, Norwalk, North Haven, New Britain, Wallingford, Bristol, Suffield and Windsor Locks, among other communities, according to reports compiled by the Houston Chronicle’s Right-To-Know Network. The newspaper created the listing because the EPA does not have a public database of “risk management plan” facilities online.

In 1993, DEEP created an Environmental Justice Program to help communities exposed to higher levels of environmental pollution.

No “segment of the population should, because of its racial or economic makeup, bear a disproportionate share of the risks and consequences of environmental pollution or be denied equal access to environmental benefits,” according to the state agency’s policy.

In 2009, the state enacted a landmark environmental justice law, which helps neighborhoods express community health concerns and negotiate with companies.

But that has done little to lessen the dangers because the law covers only new and expanding companies. Most facilities storing and processing chemicals existed prior to 2008.

The worst-case disaster scenario for the Chlor-Alkali plant would be a broken hose on one of those railcars, which would allow the chlorine to vaporize into the air, according to the company’s plan submitted to the EPA. An entire railcar of chlorine escaping could be toxic as far as 25 miles, impacting 1.6 million people, the documents report. The plant calls this “extremely unlikely,” but acknowledges the more immediate risk to those living nearby.

“However, even a chlorine release that is stopped within 30 minutes could be toxic to our nearby neighbors,” the documents read.

“There’s a really good chance you’re in danger if you’re that close,” said Sean Moulton, one of the contributors to the report who now works for the Project on Government Oversight. That organization took over much of the Center for Effective Government’s work in March 2016.

“Certain societal forces got us to this point,” he said. “We need to do something about future facilities and figure out a way to reach out to communities that are there now, ensuring that they have the proper tools and knowledge to deal with short-term emergencies and address long-term consequences of living near these facilities.”

What can change is how municipalities handle incidents. Sometimes it takes an incident—or an explosion—to bring about change.

In New Haven, residents have long complained about the Chlor-Alkali bleach manufacturing plant, formerly H. Krevit & Co., which shook their Cedar Hill neighborhood last December. A container explosion released sodium hypochlorite, a chemical dangerous to inhale and ripped a hole through the rear of the building. Residents heard and felt the morning blast but weren’t notified it was a chemical explosion for six hours.

After the explosion, the city’s Office of Emergency Management updated its notification system so if that were to happen again, phone calls and text messages would go to residents within 2 miles of the incident. The city also plans to distribute a chemical preparedness pamphlet citywide.

Chlor-Alkali’s business development manager, Arjun Murthy, now regularly attends meetings with neighbors to address concerns and said the plant has “made a number of process changes inside our plant and added new equipment to ensure that something similar never happens again.”

“Unfortunately, we had to have an incident to get to this point,” said Marie Gallo, a member of the Cedar Hill Merchants Association and owner of Gallo’s Appliance, which is a few blocks south of the plant. At a recent merchant meeting during which the city announced its plan, she said, “If we were taken a little more seriously three or four years ago, maybe we wouldn’t be at this point now.”

“These communities suffer disproportionately,” said Dr. Mark Mitchell, a public health physician who founded the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice and currently serves as principal of Mitchell Environmental Health Associates.

“There’s a direct correlation between the percentage of people of color in a community and the number of environmental hazards in those communities—and the relationship is even stronger between poverty and environmental hazards.”

“People don’t know that it’s dangerous. They don’t know what they are living next to,” he said. “And particularly in low-income neighborhoods, people move very frequently and so even if you tell people today, then next year there could be a whole new set of people who won’t know.”

]]>http://c-hit.org/2017/12/13/report-27-facilities-using-hazardous-chemicals-pose-risk-to-thousands-of-low-income-neighbors/feed/0Drowning Can Be Averted, But State Water Safety Funds Have Shrunkhttp://c-hit.org/2017/08/31/drowning-can-be-averted-but-state-water-safety-funds-have-shrunk/
http://c-hit.org/2017/08/31/drowning-can-be-averted-but-state-water-safety-funds-have-shrunk/#respondFri, 01 Sep 2017 02:00:47 +0000http://c-hit.org?p=161390Trying to walk out to Charles Island at Silver Sands State Park in Milford this summer, George Swaby drowned after he and a friend were swept up in a fast current off a sandbar.

Beachgoers watched as a boater rescued his friend that Friday, July 21. The body of Swaby, 28, was not found for two days. Compounding the tragedy was that it happened in sight of the beach, although outside the swimming area.

Drowning is the sixth most frequent cause of unintentional death in the state— making it a public health problem, state officials say. More people drown than die in fires or other outdoor-related accidents. More drown than die in machinery accidents or gun accidents.

Between 2008 and 2016, an average of 29 people per year, or 1 per 100,000, drowned in natural bodies of water, swimming pools or bathtubs in Connecticut, according to Department of Public Health statistics. This is slightly below the national rate of 1.1 per 100,000. Year to year, the numbers fluctuate: 41 in 2013 vs. nine in 2015, for example. Of the 257 drowning deaths, most are children under 5 and men between 20 and 35. The next most vulnerable group is 75- to 84-year-olds, who drown at twice the average rate, DPH said.

Swimming is fun, but can be risky, and state laws and policies do little to minimize the risks. One safeguard – lifeguards – has been undercut by the shrinking state parks budget. Starting in 2010, park revenues began to be funneled to the state’s increasingly strapped general fund.

As the 2017 summer concludes and Connecticut still lacks a budget for the new fiscal year, some Democrats proposed a “state park passport” that would add as much as $14 million a year for state parks through a $10 surcharge on biannual car and truck registrations. It’s impossible to say whether that revenue stream could add back the lifeguard hours cut over the past years in a state that owes billions of dollars. “We have to see and understand how that’s structured,” Schain said.

Bills introduced in the legislature in 2009 and 2013 requiring school districts to offer swimming lessons died in committee. A 2015 bill that would have provided free swimming lessons to children through YMCAs also went nowhere.

DPH epidemiologist Susan Logan said drowning deaths can be prevented.

“This is absolutely something we have the capacity to work on,” Logan said. The DPH recommends that people wear life vests, not drink alcohol around water, know cardiopulmonary resuscitation and teach children to swim.

Connecticut isn’t alone in its struggles to balance cost and safety. Pennsylvania eliminated most of its public-swimming-area lifeguards 18 years ago and by this year was down to guarding only its Lake Erie beach. In California, where more than 50 people a year die in drowning accidents and hundreds are on disability from water injuries, Gov. Edmund G. Brown issued a letter urging “constant adult supervision” of children around water.

Because lifeguards’ training includes stopping risky behavior, common wisdom might be that states just need more lifeguards. But drowning expert Shawn DeRosa of DeRosa Aquatic Consulting of State College, Pa., said that a corresponding problem is that parents and friends don’t understand how to watch swimmers.

“Water accidents happen fast and silently. The only way to prevent them is to be watching all the time,” DeRosa said. Wearing lifejackets also prevents accidents, DeRosa said.

So does teaching children to swim, but many families can’t afford to pay for lessons. In 2015, at the urging of a group of YMCAs, state Rep. Henry Genga introduced a bill to offer free-swimming lessons to children. The bill died in the Joint Committee on Children.

“They told me it’s going to cost money, and we knew that,” Genga, of East Hartford, said. “You’re familiar with the state of Connecticut and its financial problems. There was a demonstrated need. But with all the priorities, because it was a new program, it didn’t have a chance.”

There’s some good policy news in Connecticut, however. The General Assembly passed a bill in June requiring that police officers be trained to recognize behavior in autistic children, such as wandering, that could lead to drowning. And in May, the state formed a task force on water safety, which has yet to hold a meeting.

The executive director of the Connecticut Alliance of YMCAs, John Cattelan, said his organization is “very concerned that there possibly are no lifeguards at state parks during certain hours. We had some initial conversations that didn’t go anywhere to work with the state to provide lifeguards. We feel [drownings are] preventable.”

Since 1998, 44 people have drowned at state parks, some of those deaths occurring at parks with lifeguards on duty. Thirteen people have drowned at Squantz Pond State Park, New Fairfield, for example, more than at any other state park, even though it has had lifeguards on patrol at least some of the time.

There’s no way to know how many more deaths at state parks would have been prevented if lifeguards had been patrolling, but a national report found that lifeguards save 100,000 lives a year across the country.

Christine Woodside Photo.

In July, this lifeguard sign was at the entrance to Hammonasset State Park.

“It’s so important to have lifeguards,” said Karen Cohn, co-founder of the ZAC Foundation, a Fairfield-based nonprofit that promotes swimming safety. She and her husband Brian Cohn started the foundation in 2008 in memory of their 6-year-old son, Zachary, who died in a pool drain entrapment. The foundation advocates for domed drain covers and other safety measures, such as closing pools that lack drain covers.

“Lifeguards are trained to save lives,” Cohn said. “Statistics show that if someone is drowning and they are pulled out of the water and CPR is administered immediately, that saves lives.” But she added that vigilant parents and friends, and never swimming alone, can prevent accidents. Cohn will serve on the state task force.

Schain said that the state urges people to be aware and not to depend on lifeguards. DEEP has not been able to fill the jobs for the eight state swimming areas they want to staff four days a week. The department was unable to staff Burr Pond State Park in Torrington at all in 2017, even though someone drowned there last year. For now, it staffs four beach parks and three lakes.

In July, a help-wanted sign for lifeguards greeted motorists on Route 1 in Madison, outside the entrance to Hammonasset Beach State Park. Even at the state’s most popular park, at times, no one is watching.

]]>http://c-hit.org/2017/08/31/drowning-can-be-averted-but-state-water-safety-funds-have-shrunk/feed/0As FDA Testing Resumes Of Herbicide, So Does Local Oppositionhttp://c-hit.org/2017/08/09/as-fda-testing-resumes-of-herbicide-so-does-local-opposition/
http://c-hit.org/2017/08/09/as-fda-testing-resumes-of-herbicide-so-does-local-opposition/#respondWed, 09 Aug 2017 11:34:03 +0000http://c-hit.org?p=154103As the federal government renews tests to determine how much glyphosate is in America’s foods, Connecticut environmental groups, organic farmers and a U.S. senator say it’s time to limit the use of, or ban, the popular herbicide.

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in the world’s top-selling weed killer, Roundup, is a suspected carcinogen that’s used in agriculture, on golf courses, ballfields and other public venues, and for lawn care, experts said. It can be found in more than 750 products sold in the U.S., reports the National Pesticide Information Center.

Health concerns have been raised about Roundup for decades, concerns consistently disputed by its manufacturer, Monsanto. Earlier this year, a group of environmental health scientists called for the federal government to reassess whether glyphosate is a cancer risk.

iStock Photo.

Glyphosate can be found in more than 750 products in the U.S.

The New York- and Connecticut-based Citizens Campaign for the Environment supports glyphosate “restrictions or prohibitions,” said Connecticut program director Louis Burch. Glyphosate poses a risk to young children “due to their rapidly growing bodies and developing immune systems,” he said. It also hurts aquatic life and can harm bees and other pollinators, he said.

The Government Accountability Office reported in 2014 that the FDA doesn’t test “for several commonly used pesticides,” including glyphosate, “the most used agricultural pesticide.”

FDA spokeswoman Megan McSeveney said that because of the cost of the tests, the agency “has not routinely” looked for glyphosate. In 2016, the development of a “streamlined” method allowed the FDA to start testing for residues in soybeans, corn, milk and eggs. The analyses were put on hold for a few months when testing was transferred to new laboratories but resumed this year, McSeveney said.

Preliminary results of the new tests, which were presented at a conference last year, showed no violations for glyphosate residues, but the testing continues. All results “must go through the FDA’s quality-control process to be verified,” McSeveney said.

Monsanto says glyphosate has been used by farmers, homeowners and others for more than 40 years and, if used properly, “does not present an unreasonable risk of adverse effects to humans, wildlife or the environment.”

In July, however, California added glyphosate to its list of chemicals known to cause cancer. The move follows a 2015 determination by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer that glyphosate was “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

In Connecticut, a bill to ban the use of herbicides on highway medians and railroad rights of way won environment committee approval, but was not voted on by the end of the legislative session.

Lori Brown, executive director, Conn. League of Conservation Voters.

Glyphosate is a “dreadful substance” that has hurt consumers, applicators, wildlife and the environment, said Lori Brown, executive director of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters. She said she supports action at every level of government to do “whatever it takes to get it out of the environment.”

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said he’s “concerned with the growing body of evidence linking glyphosate to serious health problems, including cancer.

“I would support a limitation or ban on the use of glyphosate and encourage further investigation into its potentially devastating effects,” he said.

The Northeast Organic Farming Association of Connecticut, referring to glyphosate as a “chemical poison,” says more than 100 million pounds are applied annually on U.S. food crops.

But the Connecticut Environmental Council, which represents golf course superintendents, pest control companies and groundskeepers, said if instructions on the product’s label are followed, it has no concerns about the safety of glyphosate.

“I consider it a valuable tool in controlling weeds such as poison ivy and grass along fence lines,” said Michael Wallace, the group’s president.

North Haven-based Environment and Human Health, Inc.,—a group of doctors and public health professionals—said glyphosate shouldn’t be sold to everyone who walks into a store to buy it.

“The public has been using this product for years and been told it was safe, but scientists are now finding out it is dangerous to human health,” said Nancy Alderman, the group’s president.

“Industry is still claiming, as they always have, that it is perfectly safe, and there is a whole population of people unaware of the product’s health hazards. Roundup should become a restricted pesticide that would require a pesticide permit to use it,” Alderman said.

NewsTimes Photo.

Nancy Alderman, president, Environment and Human Health, Inc.

Last year, scientists representing the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and WHO reported that “there is some evidence of a positive association between glyphosate exposure and risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma,” but “the only large cohort study of high quality found no evidence of an association at any exposure level.” They also said “glyphosate is unlikely to pose a carcinogenic risk to humans from exposure through the diet.”

Monsanto, which says WHO’s cancer research agency “overlooked decades of thorough and science-based analysis by regulatory agencies around the world,” has also been hit with hundreds of lawsuits by individuals who say the multinational corporation failed to warn that exposure to Roundup could cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer that starts in white blood cells.

Monsanto spokeswoman Charla Lord said, “No other pesticide has been more extensively tested than glyphosate.” Regulatory authorities in the U.S. and other countries “have publicly reaffirmed that glyphosate does not cause cancer,” she said, and “the “overwhelming conclusion of experts worldwide, including the Environmental Protection Agency, has been that glyphosate can be used safely according to label instructions.”

But Burch, of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said the group will continue to push for limits on the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides. “Our members continue to be concerned about [their] unintended effects.”

]]>http://c-hit.org/2017/08/09/as-fda-testing-resumes-of-herbicide-so-does-local-opposition/feed/0Number Of Lead-Poisoned Children Drops, But More Showed Higher Levelshttp://c-hit.org/2017/05/09/number-of-lead-poisoned-children-drops-but-more-showed-higher-levels/
http://c-hit.org/2017/05/09/number-of-lead-poisoned-children-drops-but-more-showed-higher-levels/#respondTue, 09 May 2017 12:46:31 +0000http://c-hit.org?p=128483Nearly 1,400 new cases of lead-poisoned children under age 6 were reported in Connecticut in 2015, a slight drop from the year before, but more children showed higher levels of poisoning.

A child whose blood test shows 5 micrograms of lead per deciliter or higher is considered poisoned. The 2015 numbers show 98 new cases of children with lead levels of 20 micrograms or higher, four times the threshold number and a 32 percent jump from 2014.

“We cannot, with any certainty, explain why this is the case,” said Krista M. Veneziano, coordinator of the Connecticut Department of Public Health’s (DPH’s) Lead, Radon, and Healthy Homes Program, about the disproportionately larger numbers of higher toxicity.

Exposure to lead can damage cognitive ability, including a measurable and irreversible loss in IQ points. It can also be linked to speech and developmental delays, hyperactivity, hearing loss and behavioral problems, though these may not show up until years later.

Babies and toddlers are the most likely victims of lead paint poisoning and are especially vulnerable to its effects during these vital developmental years. With their hand-to-mouth exploring, they are more liable to ingest flaking paint chips, which taste sweet, or leaded paint dust, created by doors and windows in older housing opening and shutting, grinding down the paint. Soil near the base of older, dilapidated buildings is also frequently contaminated.

These numbers from the DPH are just an estimate because of under-testing. Although state law requires all children to be tested twice, a year apart, before they turn 3, only 55 percent of 1- and 2-year-olds had both screenings in 2015.

Connecticut is not alone in deficient screening and, in fact, does better than many states. A national study of 1- to 5-year-olds published May 2 in “Pediatrics,” an American Academy of Pediatrics journal, concluded that “undertesting of blood lead levels by pediatric care providers appears to be endemic in many states.”

The state started testing children for lead poisoning in 2002. In more recent years, as knowledge of the continuing impact of the neurotoxin and of the importance of testing have widened, children with elevated blood lead levels have been reported in nearly every town and city.

But the highest numbers of poisoned children are always in the four largest, poorer and minority-dominant cities—Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford and Waterbury. Hence, black children under 6 were twice as likely to be lead poisoned as white or Asian children in 2015, and Hispanic children were 1.6­­ times as likely to be poisoned as non-Hispanic children.

More than 75,000 children under 6 were screened in 2015, with New Haven reporting 196 new cases of children with lead levels at or greater than 5 micrograms. Waterbury reported 186 cases; Bridgeport, 179; and Hartford, 113.

Combined, children in these cities comprise close to half of all the new cases of poisonings in 2015.

Dr. Patricia Garcia, co-director of the Regional Lead Treatment Clinic at Connecticut Children’s Primary Care Center in Hartford, said the clinic’s current caseload is 179 children, who generally come from the from the top half of the state. Lead patients from Fairfield and New Haven counties are more likely to seek treatment at the lead clinic at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital.

And although there are a fair number of children from the city, Garcia said, “If you live in Connecticut, you are at risk for lead.

“Our housing stock is old, we’re from New England, it’s part of our heritage. … [This] means every child is at risk, and it doesn’t matter what socioeconomic class you come from.”

Since 2014, when Flint, Mich., changed its water source and poisoned thousands of its residents, awareness has grown nationwide that lead remains an unresolved problem.

Connecticut’s lead problems, as in most New England states, are linked more to lead paint, which wasn’t banned nationally until 1978. Nearly 60 percent of the state’s housing stock was built before 1970, and percentages in the cities can be higher.

More than 75 percent of New Haven, Bridgeport and Hartford’s housing stock is pre-1960, with the three cities generally swapping positions at the top of the state’s lead-plagued municipalities.

DPH numbers show that among 135 dwelling units investigated and reported in 2015, 84 percent had lead-based paint hazards, 59 percent had a lead dust hazard, and 34 percent showed lead in the surrounding soil.

The lead numbers will be fleshed out when the DPH issues its full 2015 lead surveillance report in the next few months.

The total number of Connecticut children 6 and under with lead poisoning in 2015 was 2,156, which includes children still being treated from previous years. This is about 130 fewer than in 2014.

]]>http://c-hit.org/2017/05/09/number-of-lead-poisoned-children-drops-but-more-showed-higher-levels/feed/0Few Polluters Penalized For Toxic Wastewater Violations, EPA Data Showhttp://c-hit.org/2017/03/30/few-polluters-penalized-for-toxic-wastewater-violations-epa-data-show/
http://c-hit.org/2017/03/30/few-polluters-penalized-for-toxic-wastewater-violations-epa-data-show/#respondThu, 30 Mar 2017 20:09:26 +0000http://c-hit.org?p=111902Nearly half of the 60 companies that are allowed to discharge wastewater directly into Connecticut’s rivers, brooks and other bodies of water exceeded the amounts of toxic metals or other pollutants that their permits allowed over the last three years, a C-HIT analysis of federal data shows.

Despite the violations, the state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) fined only two of the 29 companies found to be in noncompliance with their permits—a record that state environmental advocates called alarming, but that the agency said is justified.

The 29 companies discharged excessive amounts of pollutants during at least one three-month period from October 2013 to September 2016. At least 19 companies exceeded by more than 100 percent the amounts they were allowed to discharge, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data.

The data also show that 23 of the 60 companies were found in noncompliance with terms of their permits for at least half of the three years—for reasons ranging from excessive discharges to submitting late discharge reports. Thirteen companies were found in significant noncompliance—the most serious level of violation—for three months or more.

While DEEP has the authority to fine or take court action against polluters, EPA records show it more commonly issues notices of violation or noncompliance or warning notices, opting to work with violators for months or years to correct the problems.

Oswald Inglese, DEEP’s director of water permitting and enforcement, said that while the agency receives and generates a large volume of compliance monitoring information monthly, reviewing all the information with limited resources “far exceeds the capacity of department staff.”

Only two companies, Allnex USA of Wallingford and ReEnergy Sterling, were fined for violations of their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits over the three-year period. DEEP levied a $52,000 fine in 2014 against Allnex, which discharges into the Quinnipiac River, and a $45,000 fine in 2014 against ReEnergy Sterling, which discharged into the Moosup River.

State environmental groups say DEEP needs stronger enforcement instead of allowing companies to remain in noncompliance for months or years. The groups say DEEP should fine companies immediately. The lax enforcement, the groups say, results in the pollution of some of the state’s most popular waterways, such as the Connecticut, Naugatuck, Housatonic, Thames and Quinnipiac rivers.

“The record of noncompliance with NPDES permits in Connecticut is extremely disturbing,” said Margaret Miner, executive director of Rivers Alliance of Connecticut. “While some of the violations are undoubtedly minor, some are serious, and all deserve scrutiny.”

“Personally, I think if companies are blatantly and maliciously disobeying the law, they should face consequences, regardless of what the state’s budget situation is,” said Rep. James M. Albis, D-East Haven, the House deputy majority leader. “The reality is that we need enforcement and compliance staff to ensure that this is happening, and in difficult budget times, these types of staff tend to be on the chopping block, or positions are not filled after retirements.”

Inglese said the agency uses computer algorithms to determine which companies are in significant noncompliance and then investigates whether an enforcement response is warranted. The agency often works with violators to determine why they are noncompliant and to get them into compliance.

“Any violation is grounds for enforcement action, but that does not mean that all noncompliance is immediately actionable or always subject to formal enforcement and penalties,” Inglese said.

Companies found in noncompliance for many months or years are not automatic candidates for fines, he added. “Case-by-case circumstances vary and must be evaluated based on their specific situations.”

He said companies may be noncompliant while implementing “a long-term plan to reduce or eliminate noncompliance,” or because of an error on a permit application or “external impediments” beyond their control. Some companies have been involved in bankruptcy proceedings or facility shutdowns that leave behind unresolved environmental problems, he said.

DEEP’s enforcement response “is primarily focused on occurrences of significant noncompliance,” Inglese said. “Those that are not considered significant noncompliance are recorded and noted for further evaluation and possible action at any time in the future.”

The federal Clean Water Act prohibits companies except those holding NPDES permits from directly discharging pollutants through a “point source”—such as a pipe, ditch, channel or tunnel—into a body of water.

Vern Williams Photo.

Allnex of Wallingford was fined $52,000 for violations of its wastewater permit in 2014.

The permits limit what kinds of materials can be discharged and their amounts, and set monitoring and reporting requirements to ensure that the discharge does not contaminate the water and impact public health. Industrial permit holders are required to self-report discharge data monthly to DEEP, which provides the data to the EPA. The EPA segments the data quarterly so that noncompliance in a single month is reflected as noncompliance for an entire quarter.

Under the Clean Water Act, any noncompliance is considered a violation and grounds for enforcement or loss of a permit.

Four industrial permit holders—Connecticut Galvanizing of Glastonbury, UniMetal Surface Finishing in Thomaston, Plainfield Renewable Energy in Plainfield and the U.S. Navy’s submarine base in Groton—were found in noncompliance every quarter from October 2013 to September 2016, the data show. None were fined by DEEP.

Connecticut Galvanizing, which discharges into the wetlands of Hubbard and Salmon brooks, was issued a violation notice in 2012 and two more in 2014, Inglese said. By mid-2014, DEEP “escalated the matter into a mediation effort between Connecticut Galvanizing and other involved parties” to allow the company to install a storm water treatment system required by its permit, he said.

In all of 2015 and 2016, Connecticut Galvanizing discharged much more copper, lead and zinc than its permit allowed, but it was not issued a violation notice. In late 2015, for example, the company discharged storm water runoff into Salmon Brook that contained 223,000 percent more zinc and 1,980 percent more lead than allowed.

“All parties were aware of Connecticut Galvanizing’s noncompliance, so the issuance of further notices of violation was viewed as redundant,” Inglese said.

Connecticut Galvanizing paid a $45,000 fine to the federal government and nearly $150,000 to the Farmington River Watershed Association to settle a lawsuit brought by the Environment Connecticut and Toxins Action Network, under the Clean Water Act in October 2016.

Connecticut Galvanizing did not respond to requests for comment.

UniMetal, a metal finisher of parts for the aerospace, automotive and other industries, was in significant noncompliance in 2016, according to the EPA data. The company discharged 293 percent more cyanide, 40 percent more copper and 16 percent more nitrogen into the Naugatuck River than its permit allows.

Two DEEP violation notices remain open in that case, Inglese said. The company hired technical consultants to determine the cause of the noncompliance and is undergoing a toxicity identification and reduction evaluation, he said.

UniMetal President George LaCapra Jr. said the company “has a long history of being a responsible steward of the community and highly respects the waters of Connecticut.”

He said the company is cooperating with DEEP “on how to best meet our current and future NPDES permit obligations.”

Plainfield Renewable Energy, which discharged into the Quinebaug River, was issued two violation notices in 2014 “for sampling and reporting errors and multiple effluent violations” in 2013 and 2014, Inglese said. The noncompliance has since been resolved.

Plainfield Renewable Energy was “a distressed asset,” and most of its violations occurred before it was purchased in July 2015 by Greenleaf Power, said Matt Ross, a spokesman for Greenleaf Power, which owns and operates biomass facilities in the United States and Canada.

Since taking over operations, there have been only four minor permit issues, Ross said. “All issues have been reported and addressed, and, in each case, did not rise to the level of regulatory enforcement,” he said.

The Navy submarine base in Groton had multiple effluent violations and discharged oil and grease far above its permitted limits into the Thames River. The submarine base discharged 100 percent more oil and grease in July-September 2016, and 690 percent more oil and grease in July-September 2015.

The submarine base did not immediately respond to repeated requests for comment. On April 6, Chris Zendan, public affairs officer, wrote in an e-mail, “As CT DEEP noted, case-by-case circumstances, related to an activity’s noncompliance for many months or years, can vary and must be evaluated based on their specific situations. The base is dedicated to being a good steward of the environment and works diligently with the EPA and CT DEEP to that end.”

He wrote, “In this effluent case…SUBASE believes the findings may be in error and has been investigating the issue with DEEP since late 2015.”

Eight companies were found in noncompliance in 10 to 12 quarters from October 2013 to September 2016, the data show. Shelton-based Autoswage Products, for example, was found in noncompliance in 10 quarters, including the last quarter of 2013, when it discharged 517 percent more copper and 58 percent more iron into the Housatonic River than its permit allowed.

Vern Williams Photo.

Autoswage of Shelton discharged more copper and iron into the Housatonic River than allowed in 2013. It no longer has a discharge permit.

Autoswage President Keith Brenton said the company, which manufactures contact and connector pins, recently emerged from bankruptcy and has no plans to discharge wastewater in the future. The DEEP says it denied renewal of Autoswage’s discharge permit, and the company has not discharged since December 2013.

Allnex, one of the two companies fined over the three years, is a manufacturer of coating resins. Records show it discharged 258 percent more aluminum than allowed in 2014, and 3,020 percent more acrylonitrile than allowed in 2015. Acrylonitrile is a poisonous compound used widely in the manufacture of plastics, adhesives and synthetic rubber.

Frank DiCristina, Allnex’s site manager in Wallingford, said that since 2013, the company has embarked on “a systematic program to ensure the highest level of environmental compliance and voluntary improvement beyond compliance.”

DiCristina says Allnex reduced toxic emissions by 80 percent from 2012 to 2015, installed a new operating control system for its wastewater treatment plant, and implemented a community advisory board comprised of local citizens, conservation groups and others.

But EPA records show that, after the company was fined in 2014, DEEP found subsequent effluent violations and issued a notice of violation in March 2015. Allnex provided “an adequate response,” Inglese said, and the notice of violation was closed three months later. Records show Allnex was out of compliance in every quarter of 2015, including two after the notice of violation was closed, and the first three quarters of 2016.

ReEnergy Sterling was fined for discharging polluted storm water and groundwater into the Moosup River “on various occasions,” and failing to “properly operate and maintain their storm water retention basin,” according to DEEP. ReEnergy Sterling was a waste-to-energy facility that used waste tires as a fuel source.

Sarah Boggess, a spokeswoman for ReEnergy Holdings, said the Sterling energy plant was shut down in October 2013 and sold in September 2016. The fine related to a higher amount of zinc than allowed in storm water during a rainstorm when the plant was shut down for repairs in December 2011, she said.

Roger Reynolds, the legal director of Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound, said companies found in noncompliance should be immediately fined and not given months to comply. Reynolds said his group conducts its own investigations of violations, and if appropriate, will file suit against violators.

He said DEEP is staffed by “good people” who are “radically under-resourced,” and “don’t do a whole lot of enforcement.”

DEEP officials say that many rivers, streams and lakes are now cleaner than they have been in the past 100 years, and that once badly polluted rivers, such as the Willimantic, Naugatuck, Pequabuck, Quinnipiac, Connecticut and Farmington, are now used for many recreational pursuits.

Miner, of the Rivers Alliance, said more work needs to be done, pointing out that only 30 percent of accessible river miles in Connecticut meet Clean Water Act standards for swimming and fishing.

]]>http://c-hit.org/2017/03/30/few-polluters-penalized-for-toxic-wastewater-violations-epa-data-show/feed/0The Dope On Cannabis: Five Things To Knowhttp://c-hit.org/2017/02/28/the-dope-on-cannabis-five-things-to-know/
http://c-hit.org/2017/02/28/the-dope-on-cannabis-five-things-to-know/#respondTue, 28 Feb 2017 12:49:33 +0000http://c-hit.org?p=104246Is marijuana a harmless way to relax or a dangerous gateway drug?

The science says “No” and “We don’t know,” respectively. Arguments for and against legalization often misrepresent the medical effects of cannabis, some experts say.

Several bills proposed in the 2017 session of the General Assembly would make recreational use of marijuana legal in Connecticut. Medical marijuana use for conditions ranging from post-traumatic stress disorder to cancer has been legal in the state since 2012, though dispensaries did not open until 2014. As it stands now, marijuana is legal in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Massachusetts, Maine, and Washington, D.C., for recreational purposes.

Mark Litt, professor of behavioral sciences at the University of Connecticut, discusses his cannabis addiction treatment program with Colleen Shaddox.

Here are some of the facts:

Is marijuana a gateway drug?

That’s unproven, according to the National Academies of Science. The group has called for more research to answer that question

The National Academies recently reviewed 10,000 studies to determine what we do and do not know about marijuana. Its report found that evidence was “limited” to suggest that marijuana causes users to go on to try most other drugs, though the association with tobacco smoking was stronger. The panel also found that cannabis users were more likely to be heavy drinkers, but it did not find that marijuana causes heavy drinking. Some people who use marijuana do progress to using other illegal drugs—but most don’t.

Can you get addicted to marijuana?

Yes, according to the American Psychiatric Association (APA).

Cannabis use disorder is included in the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. A 2015 study shows that 30 percent of users may have some level of the disorder, with people who start at a young age being more likely to become dependent.

Does marijuana cause cancer?

No, according to multiple studies reviewed by the National Academies.

Some believe that since marijuana is commonly smoked, it would contribute to all the same illnesses that cigarettes do. The National Academies’ review did not find a conclusive link between pot smoking and cancers. It also found strong evidence against a connection to lung cancer, as well as head and neck cancers. But use can lead to a chronic cough and other respiratory illnesses, the report concludes.

Does marijuana have medical uses?

Yes, but scientists say much more research is needed.

“It’s like trying to do a study with heroin,” said Mark Litt, a professor of Behavioral Sciences, Community Health and Psychiatry at UConn Health. Litt runs a treatment program for people addicted to marijuana. Because marijuana is illegal at the federal level, it has been difficult to get funding to do clinical trials with the drug, let alone legally obtain it, though rules are relaxing. There have been studies showing its usefulness in relieving chronic pain, the spasms associated with multiple sclerosis, and vomiting and nausea caused by chemotherapy.

Medical marijuana is already legal in Connecticut for adults with a long list of debilitating illnesses, ranging from post-traumatic stress disorder to cancer. The list of qualifying illnesses for people under 18 is much shorter

Is marijuana bad for your brain?

Chris DeFrancesco Photo.

Professor Mark Litt.

Yes. “Short-term use of marijuana is associated with short-term memory deficit. So even if you use it just a bit, your short-term memory is going to be affected,” Litt said. “Long-term use is associated with a variety of cognitive impairments, particularly frontal-lobe issues, which involve executive functions—decision making, problem solving, judgment, and inhibition; that is, ability to inhibit oneself, which is a major part of emotional control and behavioral control.”

Research shows marijuana users earn less than their peers, are more likely to be involved in workplace accidents and are less likely to graduate from high school or college.

]]>http://c-hit.org/2017/02/28/the-dope-on-cannabis-five-things-to-know/feed/0Is Corrosive Groundwater Leaching Lead Into Your Well Water?http://c-hit.org/2016/12/12/is-corrosive-groundwater-leaching-lead-into-your-well-water/
http://c-hit.org/2016/12/12/is-corrosive-groundwater-leaching-lead-into-your-well-water/#respondTue, 13 Dec 2016 03:10:04 +0000http://c-hit.org?p=84889Connecticut is one of 11 states with a very high prevalence of potentially corrosive groundwater, increasing the risk that water running out of the taps of homes with private wells might be tainted with lead, a study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) found.

USGS researchers analyzed nearly three decades of data from more than 20,000 public and private wells nationwide and determined that between 75.3 percent and 84.9 percent of wells in Connecticut could contain corrosive groundwater.

If left untreated, corrosive groundwater can leach lead and other metals in pipes en route to the tap, raising health concerns for the estimated 871,000 state residents who rely on private wells as their primary source of drinking water.

In Connecticut, the state does not mandate or conduct testing of well water, instead relying on private well owners to maintain, test and treat their own wells. Many well owners are not aware of the risks of corrosion, environmental health activists say.

This map by the U.S. Geological Survey shows the prevalence of corrosive groundwater nationally. Most New England states have a very high prevalence.

Corrosive groundwater, or water with low pH and alkalinity levels, is a naturally occurring phenomenon dependent on geology, and it is not dangerous to consume by itself. The problem occurs when the water enters pipes. Lead was commonly used in plumbing fixtures throughout the first half of the 20th century, and Connecticut has some of the oldest housing stock in the country. When water with low pH and alkalinity levels interacts with lead, it triggers a chemical reaction that dissolves the metal and delivers traces to the tap. Warning signs include a metallic taste and bluish-green stains in the sink.

“Millions of Americans rely on private wells,” Kenneth Belitz, the scientist who led the study, said. “But the individual has to treat them, and it might be expensive, or they might not realize they need to do it.”

Water Monitoring, Testing

Public water supplies are monitored and protected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Safe Drinking Water Act, which sets standards for drinking water quality and works with state agencies to ensure drinking water safety. The EPA does not regulate private wells, and most states do not require testing.

Connecticut mandates testing only when a new well is constructed, and no database on testing is maintained. Rhode Island is the only New England state that collects and analyzes testing data on private wells.

The state Department of Public Health (DPH) told C-HIT that while the state does not have specific statistics on the prevalence of lead pipes in homes supplied by private wells, health officials encourage well owners to get their water tested by a state-certified laboratory. Lead exposure can cause a variety of health problems, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports. Children are especially vulnerable. In children, lead exposure can cause cognitive deficits, a loss in IQ points, speech and developmental delays and hyperactivity.

Ryan Tetrault, an environmental analyst for the DPH Private Well Program, said the program has held a number of outreach and education events in the past several years to provide information to private well owners on the importance of testing their private wells. Three years ago, the DPH received numerous complaints about high levels of arsenic and heavy metals in well water in several communities, including Weston, Stamford and Somers. At the time, DPH recommended that residents stop drinking their tap water, install remediation systems and test their well water yearly.

While well testing is affordable, treatment can be expensive. Bill Ainsworth, a veteran analyst for the Connecticut-based well-water service company Greco & Haines, says a standard battery of water-quality tests costs less than $200, but the bill for installing a chemical injection system or an acid neutralizer to treat corrosive groundwater can range from $1,500 to $2,000.

He estimated that the company tests about 5,000 wells per year, and that about half of them contain corrosive groundwater.

Environmental advocates say that the state should be doing more to protect well owners.

David Brown, the co-founder of the nonprofit Environment & Human Health, Inc., and a former CDC and DPH official, says it’s unrealistic to expect residents to regulate their own water supplies and suggested that local health departments do the job instead.

“I would think the state legislature might want to study this problem to see if the corrosivity of the water is producing exposures to lead and other metals. That would be a serious problem,” Brown said. “If you get a change, you’ll get it there [at the legislature], because the state’s environmental protection agency and the DPH don’t feel they have a responsibility for private wells. They’ll say you’re responsible for your own well.”

Ray Ough, 69, of Marlborough, says he and his wife have lived off well water for almost 40 years, and that well ownership not only lowers his utility bill but fits his do-it-yourself ethos. Ough says he gets his water tested “from time to time,” but conceded he wasn’t aware that corrosivity was a metric worth watching.

“When you have a well, you have some responsibility that goes along with that,” Ough said. “That’s just part of the homeowner experience.”

The USGS is planning more studies.

Corrosivity made national headlines when officials in Flint, Mich., failed to treat the city’s drinking water for corrosivity, creating a citywide public health crisis as lead leached into the public supply, and thousands of residents were exposed to the contamination.

Flint provided the motivation for a closer look at the risks posed by corrosive water in the absence of regulation on a broad scale, Belitz said.

The national study found that the Northeast, Southeast and Northwest had the largest percentage of wells with potentially corrosive groundwater.

In New England, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire also had a “very high” prevalence of corrosive groundwater, while Vermont was rated “high” prevalence.

Joseph Ayotte, a USGS scientist and groundwater expert for the New England Water Science Center, says Belitz’s study provides a starting point for more detailed and localized analyses.

In New England, he said, water in public supply wells tends to be more corrosive because it is drawn from the shallower glacial aquifer, while water in private wells tends to be less corrosive because it is drawn from the deeper bedrock aquifer, a phenomenon that could mitigate the risk of exposure for many private well owners.

“Now that we see there’s a potential for corrosive water…there is additional information that we could get by looking at this in more detail,” Ayotte said. He suggested further studies to identify which well types and aquifers are most susceptible, so that researchers can refine risk assessments.